


Little deviant, downright defiant

by yogini



Series: The Babysitter Chronicles [29]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Babysitter!Stiles, Dad!Derek, Family Dynamics, Family Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Operation Family Values, Parenthood, kid!Laura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 19:52:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4032523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yogini/pseuds/yogini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura isn't helping out around the house, not even cleaning her own room, and Derek and Stiles team up to teach her a much needed lesson on personal responsibility and household policies...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little deviant, downright defiant

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Teen Wolf or any of the characters in the series, I'm just borrowing them from their respective owners to play with a little and I promise to give them back when I'm done. No copyright infringement is intended and I don't make any money from writing fanfiction.

"I don't want to" Laura pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. It would have looked adorable to Stiles if he hadn't tried to convince her to clean her room for an hour now.

"Come on, sweetie" he tried again. "We'll do it together and then it'll take no time, and afterwards we can go have ice cream, yeah?" Great, now he'd gone as far as to bribe the kid, every parents' last resort. Laura shook her head stubbornly.

"I don't want any ice cream" she declared, stomping her foot. "And I don't want to clean my room. It's boring." Stiles could have pulled out any number of arguments as to why it was important to take care of your own room, that it's important that she takes on that responsibility herself, that just because Derek and Stiles were adults that didn't automatically mean that they'd do all the boring stuff, that a family helps each other and doesn't dump the household chores on one person and so on and so forth. He had a feeling Laura wouldn't be too impressed with that however, and decided to save his breath. He'd have to talk to Derek about this. He generally wasn't keen on disciplining kids, as even giving someone a light scolding made him feel like a monster, and he particularly didn't want to make Laura relive any painful memories, but on the other hand she couldn't go through life and expect never to have to do anything boring. Allowing things like these to slip because he felt sorry for her wouldn't help in the long run and she was bound to sooner or later run headfirst into a confrontation if this wasn't properly addressed now. He sighed and decided on a tactical retreat for now.

"All right, let's take Leia for a walk then, shall we?" he suggested a little tiredly and Laura smiled smugly. She didn't realize that while she might have won the battle, Stiles was already planning for a full scale war.

::

As soon as Derek came home that night he found himself invited to a council of war and when a suitable battle plan had been drawn up, and Stiles dramatically had declared himself to be Commander-in-Chief, they split up and started to set the plan in motion.

 

Operation Family Values was a go.

 

"Daddy, I can't find my sweater!" Laura called out and Derek smirked slightly before schooling his features back into something a little more concerned looking and continued making breakfast for the two of them. Stiles was sleeping in and Derek envied the other man, all alone with only a soft pillow for company, but he was grateful that it had been Stiles who'd dealt with his defiant daughter the night before when she didn't want to go to bed, and thus allowing Derek to rest properly for his early morning shift. But this also meant that he was on his own now and he steeled himself for the inevitable confrontation.

"Have you looked in the bathroom?" he asked and Laura angrily stomped past.  
"Yes! It isn't in there" she answered. "Find it for me!" she all but ordered him and this time Derek had a really hard time hiding his smile.

"Sure, sweetie, I just need to finish your breakfast first" he answered and, absolutely not rushing to do so, served her a plate of carefully prepared triangle sandwiches and a bowl of neatly cut fruit salad. This meant, sadly, that they didn't have enough time to find the sweater and Laura grumpily had put on another in order to make it to school on time. She was not happy about it and she didn't hesitate to show her displeasure to everyone she came across.

 

The next day she couldn't find her homework and got scolded in school for not handing it in on time. She furiously yelled at Derek for not finding it for her but he simply smiled and pointed out that if she couldn't find it, in her own room, then he probably couldn't either, considering how much stuff that was in there. Then it continued with her blue skirt and a book that she absolutely had to read as a bedtime story, and a DVD that she'd borrowed from a friend, to whom she, cheeks flaming scarlet red, had to admit that she'd lost it. That day she came home from school, barely said hi and then Stiles heard the roar when the vacuum cleaner started. An hour later she emerged again, this time with all her missing possessions present and accounted for and Stiles had to lock himself in the bathroom and run the water so that she didn't hear him laughing his ass off. Then he texted Derek and actually got a smiley back from his Sourwolf.

 

"It was in my room" she admitted grumpily later that night when Derek was home, right out of the blue.

"What are you talking about, sweetie?"

"The sweater that I couldn't find the other day, it was in my room. On the floor. Under the bed. Under a lot of other stuff." Laura kicked the table leg lightly. "And the homework too. And the skirt and the book and the DVD. I cleaned" she explained and Derek felt like doing at least a fist pump and a victory dance around the kitchen, and if that wasn't a sign of being around Stiles too much then he didn't know what was, but he kept himself in line and gave her an encouraging smile.  
"That's great, sweetie" he said and she crawled onto his lap.

"Sorry I yelled" she said in a small voice and Derek kissed the top of her head.

"Already forgotten, pup." 

::

So that was partly a win for Team Parents, (it had been Stiles’ idea but when he’d gotten as far as giving them individual code names as well Derek had put his foot down firmly), but they still couldn’t get her to help with the chores around the house.

 

Derek absolutely did not believe in making his child taking care of the whole household, she needed her energy for school and homework and having fun, but on the other hand it was important that she knew that a family, a pack, helps each other. He didn’t want Laura to grow up to become a spoilt and self-centred person and he knew that if he did, it would only make things harder for her that day when she’d want to live with someone else. So, asking her to help out with small tasks such as loading the dishwasher, setting the table and putting her laundry in the hamper didn’t seem to be overly much work for a child of her age, but Laura was of a different opinion and flat out declared that she expected him, and now also Stiles, to take care of all the boring chores.

 

Derek intended to show her the full consequences of doing so, and decided that it was time for part two of operation Family Values.

::

The next week passed very much in the same fashion. Laura would ask her dad to do something with her and he'd have to decline because he was too busy with the household chores.

"Daddy, can we go to the park?"

"I can't, sweetheart, I have to do the dishes first. Maybe later."

"Daddy, can we go get ice cream?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie, I've got to go to work and then I need to clean the bathroom. Maybe tomorrow."

"Daddy can we go visit auntie Erica and her baby?"

"Sorry Laura, I need to finish this laundry first."

"Daddy you're so boring!"

"Well, someone has to do all these boring chores" he shrugged. "Maybe we can go another day?"

"I want to go now!" Laura wasn't pleased with the response. "You only do boring things." 

"Maybe" Derek acquiesced. "But someone has to do them and if no one helps me with them it takes longer for me to get them done alone."

"Stiles can help you" Laura quickly said. "Then we can go to the park."

"Stiles helped out this morning, sweetie, but he has to work now, that’s why he’s shut himself into the office."

“Ugh!” Laura stomped off to her room and sat there sulking until it was time for dinner and Derek and Stiles smiled at each other over large bites of Spaghetti Carbonara. It probably wouldn’t be long now until the penny finally dropped.

 

Two days later Laura practically ran around the living room with the vacuum cleaner, overturning Stiles and a lamp, and then proceeded to shove all the dishes from their breakfast in the dishwasher so that they could get to the park quicker. Derek never really got an apology but after Laura realized that the more she helped out, the more family fun time there’d be, he never again found a week’s worth of smelly socks thrown under Laura’s desk, and the dishes more often than not ended up in the dishwasher.

 

Operation Family Values had been successfully completed.

::

"You know what it means, right?" Stiles asked later when they’d gone to bed.

"That she feels safe enough with me?” Derek asked, putting the paperback he was reading away. “That she dares to push the boundaries because she’s not afraid that I’ll send her back?” Even saying the words made Derek feel nauseous and his throat closed up. He'd never do that to Laura. Never ever. Her home was with him and Stiles and that would never change.

“Yep. Cub trusts you, no questions there” Stiles yawned. “So well done, daddy. Totally parenting material you’ve got there.” Derek felt warmth spreading through his chest at Stiles’ words. He’d known what the outbursts and the defiance meant, had been preparing since he took her home for the day when she’d feel safe enough to rebel, but to have Stiles acknowledge it like that, made it somehow feel more real. His darling daughter trusted him, to the extent where she even dared to openly defy him, and it made him feel dizzy with love.

 

That being said, however, he shuddered at the thought of her teenage years…


End file.
